Look What I've Done! The Story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
So, here is the story- the Pharisee and the Tax Collector both go to the temple to pray- the Pharisee walks to center stage, curtain up, flood lights on, he scans his audience with great intensity- he will use everything at his disposal for his performance. Cue the music… German opera plays in the orchestra pit, walk stage right, puff the chest… dramatic pause… all eyes focused where he wants them… and in his soliloquy begins…
‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like...well... everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t swindle, and I don’t extort. I’m certainly not like, (for instance)… that tax collector in the balcony! (Look what I’ve done!) I fast twice a week, and I give you (God, ) a tenth of my income.’
One more swirl to show off the robe, and a majestic exit, stage left… ‘I am so good at this!’
Meanwhile, in the balcony, well, not really the balcony, but beyond the balcony in what you or I would call “the cheap seats… there is the tax collector. He has actually moved farther back into the darkness after the Pharisees display. And in his little corner of the nosebleed section, he hangs his head and bows as low as he can… and begins his prayer- no music… just what few words he can find…
“God have mercy on me a sinner… and the words of his prayer sting his own ears… God have mercy on me a sinner…” He tightens his arms around himself and rocks back and forth and is doing that weird beating his chest, thing… “Oh God have mercy on ME… a Sinner. God…”
He kneels in silence for who knows how long, wipes the tears from his face and he finishes with no applause, and no exit music…
And, says Jesus, this man went home justified, and not the other one… “If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored." (CEV)
This is pretty straightforward stuff isn’t it? It is, except when we start to think of our own lives, the lines become blurred about who I am, or who we are, in the story… or if we are here at all.
The Pharisee, we all know is Super Temple Guy. He knows his scripture inside and out, and his specialty is knowledge and interpretation of the law. He and the other Jewish and Roman elite were part of what we would call, the establishment- the system. And while his job may sound great, and even holy, (and in its origins it was meant to be holy), by the first century, “the elite” were knows for oppressing everyone below them through unfair taxes, corruption and kickbacks. The religious elite did it through twisting the law to make all of this abuse and corruption justifiable.
Basically “his job was to teach the people the interpretation of, or more accurately, the official misinterpretation of the Torah so that they would believe that this unjust way their society operated was society as God designed and intended it to be. In other words, “if you’re a good Jew, obedient to the Torah, you’ll pay your taxes and tolls and never question it”.”[i]
The tax collector, however… is not much better. And though you may not know this, was also part of the Elite of society. However, he was on the very bottom of the elite, and he held no status and was looked down on by everyone higher than him. His job paid so little, that he couldn’t possibly make ends meet for his family on his salary, so he was encouraged by the upper crust to extort money from the peasants. An average peasant family paid up to 83% of their income in taxes.[ii]
So how do you think he got people to pay this extra money that went toward making his life more comfortable? Well, the tax collector in town was also, in essence, the bully of the town. He took unfair advantage of the people, physically abusive- though he lived among them. He was like any other hired thug you’ve seen in any gangster movie coming to collect a debt, Hollywood would call him a “leg breaker” or a “collector”. He was hated and feared equally by the people. Not a really nice guy- and probably little to no friends… And, make no mistake; the tax collector was working for the Pharisee!
So we have in essence, two “bad guys”- and both of these bad guys came to the temple to pray… (praise God the sanctuary is open to all, amen?) Yet Jesus says that it was the Tax collector who went home justified, or made right with God. Why?
The Pharisee’s prayer was said, not to God, but to himself- it was all about him, every portion of the prayer was about how much he was doing and how good he was in comparison to others.
The Tax collectors prayer was humble- in first century Judaism, it was traditional for a man to pray with his head up and his hands lifted toward heaven- he bowed low- The word “humbled”, comes from the Greek, “hummus”, meaning dirt… he humbled himself before God. His prayer was simply a confession of sin and a plea for forgiveness. He admitted what he was and asked God to be merciful. He gave no excuses- he compared himself to no one- he didn’t try to even justify his actions.
Now, it’s easy at this point to identify with the tax collector and to hop on his lap and say “hey, I want to be like you, and not like that other guy, the Pharisee… And I can make myself hummus before God!”
Why are we always wanting to take someone’s side? We’re always wanting to compare ourselves to something or someone. Except the minute we compare ourselves to one or another, or hold a desire to be one or the other, judging who is better, we become the Pharisee. And when it comes right down to it, I know I am a lot more Pharisaical than I would like to admit.
Because there are a lot of people in this world who I tend to judge- even though I might not say it out loud. But don’t we think it… even if deep inside? There are people in the world who we have labeled, “bad people”- the ones who are on opposite sides from us- politically, socially, even religiously, and when we think of them, or perhaps come out of some “discussion” with them, don’t we also think, ‘thank God I have it more right than they do….’
Or we don’t even have to cast such a wide net- let’s stay in the community-or our workplace, or our family… heck, some of us can stay right in our church! You know that person who makes us nuts when they are in the room- we can’t raise our eyes to look at them because if we do, we know they will give our true feelings away- the disgust we feel when we see them. And we can pray about it till the cows come home, but something about them “rubs us the wrong way” and even though we might not walk out on a stage swirling our robe to declare it, we sing it in the sanctuary just the same.
But didn’t Jesus tell us who had the better prayer at the end? Didn’t Jesus tell us what we should be like by letting us know how God justified the tax collector? And my answer to you is yes, he did. And if we are praying like the text collector, and acknowledging who we really are, what we have really done, imploring God to be merciful on us with no self justification, no scape-goating, no blame shifting-no comparison… then we too can go home justified.
But here’s the thing… when we get up from that prayer, and wipe the tears from our face, with no exit music and no applause… we need to realize that our God isn’t about who is “better than, smarter than, prettier than, richer than, holier than. God does not discriminate; God does not compare us with one another.” God loves us all… and loves us all equally- despite the fact that it might not make sense to me! Despite the fact that it might not be the way I think things should work!
When we get up from that prayer, we get up realizing that it doesn’t matter that another person might believe in God differently than we do, or are walking outside of what we deem holy, or righteous, or Christian behavior! We get up and we don’t think about the fact that others perhaps aren’t as “spiritual” or “grace filled” or “humble” as we are- because when we do, we put them back under the law- and take away God’s grace.
And further- the God who would bless us based on how well we keep the law, or how religious we are, is a God who could be manipulated.”[iii] A God who we could somehow control by our actions! That we could entice God to love us! It would mean that there could be a way to be right with God by something that we DO- and not based on the fact that we ARE!
I don’t want my God to be any less than omnipotent! I don’t want my God to be less than a God of complete forgiveness, complete redemption, complete grace…
God have mercy on me, a sinner…
[i] Linthicum, Robert, http://www.rclinthicum.org/RCL_OrdinaryTime_30th_Sunday_Cycle_C.pdf italics mine
[ii] ibid
[iii] http://www.preachingpeace.org/lectionaries/yearc-proper25/
‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like...well... everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t swindle, and I don’t extort. I’m certainly not like, (for instance)… that tax collector in the balcony! (Look what I’ve done!) I fast twice a week, and I give you (God, ) a tenth of my income.’
One more swirl to show off the robe, and a majestic exit, stage left… ‘I am so good at this!’
Meanwhile, in the balcony, well, not really the balcony, but beyond the balcony in what you or I would call “the cheap seats… there is the tax collector. He has actually moved farther back into the darkness after the Pharisees display. And in his little corner of the nosebleed section, he hangs his head and bows as low as he can… and begins his prayer- no music… just what few words he can find…
“God have mercy on me a sinner… and the words of his prayer sting his own ears… God have mercy on me a sinner…” He tightens his arms around himself and rocks back and forth and is doing that weird beating his chest, thing… “Oh God have mercy on ME… a Sinner. God…”
He kneels in silence for who knows how long, wipes the tears from his face and he finishes with no applause, and no exit music…
And, says Jesus, this man went home justified, and not the other one… “If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored." (CEV)
This is pretty straightforward stuff isn’t it? It is, except when we start to think of our own lives, the lines become blurred about who I am, or who we are, in the story… or if we are here at all.
The Pharisee, we all know is Super Temple Guy. He knows his scripture inside and out, and his specialty is knowledge and interpretation of the law. He and the other Jewish and Roman elite were part of what we would call, the establishment- the system. And while his job may sound great, and even holy, (and in its origins it was meant to be holy), by the first century, “the elite” were knows for oppressing everyone below them through unfair taxes, corruption and kickbacks. The religious elite did it through twisting the law to make all of this abuse and corruption justifiable.
Basically “his job was to teach the people the interpretation of, or more accurately, the official misinterpretation of the Torah so that they would believe that this unjust way their society operated was society as God designed and intended it to be. In other words, “if you’re a good Jew, obedient to the Torah, you’ll pay your taxes and tolls and never question it”.”[i]
The tax collector, however… is not much better. And though you may not know this, was also part of the Elite of society. However, he was on the very bottom of the elite, and he held no status and was looked down on by everyone higher than him. His job paid so little, that he couldn’t possibly make ends meet for his family on his salary, so he was encouraged by the upper crust to extort money from the peasants. An average peasant family paid up to 83% of their income in taxes.[ii]
So how do you think he got people to pay this extra money that went toward making his life more comfortable? Well, the tax collector in town was also, in essence, the bully of the town. He took unfair advantage of the people, physically abusive- though he lived among them. He was like any other hired thug you’ve seen in any gangster movie coming to collect a debt, Hollywood would call him a “leg breaker” or a “collector”. He was hated and feared equally by the people. Not a really nice guy- and probably little to no friends… And, make no mistake; the tax collector was working for the Pharisee!
So we have in essence, two “bad guys”- and both of these bad guys came to the temple to pray… (praise God the sanctuary is open to all, amen?) Yet Jesus says that it was the Tax collector who went home justified, or made right with God. Why?
The Pharisee’s prayer was said, not to God, but to himself- it was all about him, every portion of the prayer was about how much he was doing and how good he was in comparison to others.
The Tax collectors prayer was humble- in first century Judaism, it was traditional for a man to pray with his head up and his hands lifted toward heaven- he bowed low- The word “humbled”, comes from the Greek, “hummus”, meaning dirt… he humbled himself before God. His prayer was simply a confession of sin and a plea for forgiveness. He admitted what he was and asked God to be merciful. He gave no excuses- he compared himself to no one- he didn’t try to even justify his actions.
Now, it’s easy at this point to identify with the tax collector and to hop on his lap and say “hey, I want to be like you, and not like that other guy, the Pharisee… And I can make myself hummus before God!”
Why are we always wanting to take someone’s side? We’re always wanting to compare ourselves to something or someone. Except the minute we compare ourselves to one or another, or hold a desire to be one or the other, judging who is better, we become the Pharisee. And when it comes right down to it, I know I am a lot more Pharisaical than I would like to admit.
Because there are a lot of people in this world who I tend to judge- even though I might not say it out loud. But don’t we think it… even if deep inside? There are people in the world who we have labeled, “bad people”- the ones who are on opposite sides from us- politically, socially, even religiously, and when we think of them, or perhaps come out of some “discussion” with them, don’t we also think, ‘thank God I have it more right than they do….’
Or we don’t even have to cast such a wide net- let’s stay in the community-or our workplace, or our family… heck, some of us can stay right in our church! You know that person who makes us nuts when they are in the room- we can’t raise our eyes to look at them because if we do, we know they will give our true feelings away- the disgust we feel when we see them. And we can pray about it till the cows come home, but something about them “rubs us the wrong way” and even though we might not walk out on a stage swirling our robe to declare it, we sing it in the sanctuary just the same.
But didn’t Jesus tell us who had the better prayer at the end? Didn’t Jesus tell us what we should be like by letting us know how God justified the tax collector? And my answer to you is yes, he did. And if we are praying like the text collector, and acknowledging who we really are, what we have really done, imploring God to be merciful on us with no self justification, no scape-goating, no blame shifting-no comparison… then we too can go home justified.
But here’s the thing… when we get up from that prayer, and wipe the tears from our face, with no exit music and no applause… we need to realize that our God isn’t about who is “better than, smarter than, prettier than, richer than, holier than. God does not discriminate; God does not compare us with one another.” God loves us all… and loves us all equally- despite the fact that it might not make sense to me! Despite the fact that it might not be the way I think things should work!
When we get up from that prayer, we get up realizing that it doesn’t matter that another person might believe in God differently than we do, or are walking outside of what we deem holy, or righteous, or Christian behavior! We get up and we don’t think about the fact that others perhaps aren’t as “spiritual” or “grace filled” or “humble” as we are- because when we do, we put them back under the law- and take away God’s grace.
And further- the God who would bless us based on how well we keep the law, or how religious we are, is a God who could be manipulated.”[iii] A God who we could somehow control by our actions! That we could entice God to love us! It would mean that there could be a way to be right with God by something that we DO- and not based on the fact that we ARE!
I don’t want my God to be any less than omnipotent! I don’t want my God to be less than a God of complete forgiveness, complete redemption, complete grace…
God have mercy on me, a sinner…
[i] Linthicum, Robert, http://www.rclinthicum.org/RCL_OrdinaryTime_30th_Sunday_Cycle_C.pdf italics mine
[ii] ibid
[iii] http://www.preachingpeace.org/lectionaries/yearc-proper25/
